Broadcast television may be now facing a similar, scary phase shift. Netflix has been making inroads among U.S. consumers for years, but its impact on the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic has so far been limited. Old habits die hard and many viewers have remained mostly loyal to habit of gorging on linear television on Thursday nights.

But the most recent numbers have some scary elements that point to a possibly massive disruption in the near term. Broadcast TV consumption among 18-to-34-year-old Americans plunged by 11% in the Christmas quarter. Ominously, audiences of young-skewing cable channels like Nickelodeon and MTV are now sliding by 14 to 17% year-on-year.

I’ll be honest, I’m more excited about a new Netflix series than I am about anything on one of the big networks.

IDC just released its latest numbers on the top smartphones by operating system showing iOS and Android continue to collectively dominate the market with both experiencing growth during 2014. Together, iOS and Android grabbed 96.3% of all smartphone shipments, which IDC points out is up from 95.6% in 4Q13 and from 93.8% in calendar year 2013.

Android experienced the most growth last year with 81.5% of the market during the year marking an increase in both unit volume and market share from 2013. iOS, on the other hand,...

Cook was visiting the offices of German tabloid Bild-Zeitung today, although the reason for the visit is unknown. Yesterday Cook visited German glassmaker seele in Gersthofen, where he inspected the last of 2,400 glass panels that will be used on the Apple Campus 2 building now under construction in Cupertino, California.

The wearable fitness tracking Microsoft Band received an update this week adding support for biking, and integration with MapMyFitness and Microsoft's own HealthVault service, but it still lacks compatibility with Apple's HealthKit tools and Health app for iOS 8.

Pebble announced its new Time smartwatch as a Kickstarter project, and the Internet pretty much started throwing money at the company. John Martellaro and Kelly Guimont join Jeff Gamet to talk about the stunning response to Pebble's latest smartwatch, the wrist top device market, and competition for Apple Watch. They also take a look at John's review of the ExoLens camera lens kit for the the iPhone.

Facebook is out with a useful update to its Messenger app for iPhone and iPad today adding an action extension for sharing content from other apps on iOS 8. This adds the ability to have deep Facebook Messenger integration with other apps including Safari and Photos just like Apple’s own Messages app.

Once enabled, you can do things like share images and videos from the Photos app or links from Safari directly to your contacts on Facebook Messenger without having to jump back and forth between apps. Facebook Messenger version 22.0 is rolling out now on the App Store.

Visa Europe is prepping the continent for widespread mobile payment rollout with its new tokenization tech—the same kind of tokenization that makes it possible for Apple Pay to function securely.

In mid-April, the company is going to offer its new tokenization service to financial institutions in Europe, where NFC payments are already widespread thanks to chip-and-pin cards. Transactions using contactless payments will soon submit tokens, or randomly generated card numbers, instead of actual card details. Tokenization adds an extra layer of security to mobile payments and has been one of Apple Pay’s main selling points over traditional cards.

It happens each time there is talk that Apple is preparing to enter a new product category: industry leaders issue the standard statement that they’re unfazed by potential Apple competition because 1) Apple makes computers and 2) this is their turf, their expertise.

Almost like fulfilling the prophecy, head of Mercedes-Benz cars Dieter Zetsche recently did just that while discussing the rumor with Australian publication motoring.com.au:

“If there were a rumour that Mercedes or Daimler planned to start building smartphones then they (Apple) would not be sleepless at night. And the same applies to me.”

Zetsche added that his position in saying that Apple building a car would be like Mercedes building a smartphone is “full of respect” for the iPhone maker....

For writers, it’s impossible to have too many text editors. Every one seems to have some feature that works better in one situation than another, so I find myself bouncing back and forth between the different Mac text and Markdown editors on the market. One of my favorites has been developer John Saddington's Desk (US$29.99), a simple-to-use editor with some surprising power built into it. Now Desk has been updated to version 1.2, adding some new features while retaining all of its user-friendliness.

First off, Desk has added themes. At the most basic, it’s possible to toggle between day and night themes. The latter is useful in low light conditions and provides light text on a dark background. If you’re not using a responsive layout on your blog (meaning that the page automatically re-formats based on the width of the page on various devices), you can now create custom...

The FTC is fining the creators of two different smartphone apps, both of which were previously available as paid apps on the App Store, for falsely claiming to detect symptoms of melanoma. The two apps, MelApp and Mole Detective, have long been removed from the App Store (although a version of Mole Detective remains on Google Play for $4.99), and Apple appears to have cracked down on similar apps that were available on the store as recently as early 2014.

The Federal Trade Commission has challenged marketers for deceptively claiming their mobile apps could detect symptoms of melanoma, even in its early stages. In two separate cases, marketers of MelApp and Mole Detective have agreed to settlements that bar them from continuing...

Adonit is tired of sitting on the sidelines as others build software to work with its line of iOS styluses. Forge, the company’s first app, has been two years in the making, but it’s more than a simple sketch app—it’s a brainstorming tool.

Adonit’s chief design officer, Peiter Buick, explained to me that Forge was inspired by employees within the company, built to duplicate the iterative process of storyboarding, sketching, and pinning ideas from every possible source onto your office wall.

There has been a lot of discussion lately of where and how Apple will sell the Apple Watch -- through high-end luxury department stores in Paris, for example, or through special new displays inside of Apple Stores. Finding new ways to present the watch is important, but how will Apple actually trigger a buy decision? Sure, it's easy enough for some rich dude to add a few new watches to his collection, and easy enough to convince the true Apple fans to give it a whirl...but how will Apple convince millions of regular humans to strap on a watch and wear it every day?

Visa Europe has announced that its European contactless payment terminals will support the tokenization service used by Apple Pay by mid-April. This would allow Apple to introduce Apple Pay to Europe anytime from this point on.

Tokenisation technology will be at the heart of new mobile payment solutions and has been hailed as one of the best data protection and fraud prevention methods available. The new service will be available for European financial institutions from mid-April 2015.

Although Europe has had contactless payment cards for several years, these currently transmit the actual card details to the terminal. Apple Pay, in contrast, transmits single-use codes which card companies can map back to the actual card, a functionality currently only available in the USA. As of mid-April, that functionality will be...

Pebble today announced its next generation smartwatch, Pebble Time. The device gets its name from its timeline-based UI that shifts the focus of the interface from apps to notifications with an emphasis on what you need to get done now and in the future.

The new Pebble Time is 20 percent thinner than the original Pebble and ships with a color e-ink display. Instead of a touchscreen display, Pebble opted to include four physical buttons with three on the left and one on the right. Also on board is an integrated microphone that provides an easy way to dictate a quick text message or reminder. Unlike the original Pebble, which uses a proprietary watchstrap, the Pebble Time uses standard 22-mm watch strap with quick-release pins, allowing you to replace the stock straps when the device arrives on your doorstep. The smartwatch also boasts of up to 7-day battery life, is water resistant and includes Bluetooth LE.

When Camel Audio shut down in January, customers that used its audio app plug-ins and digital instruments were left wondering why they so abruptly stopped selling their products, but now that mystery has been solved: they were bought by Apple. Since Apple shut down Camel Audio's operations instead of continuing to sell its products, it's likely we'll see the company's technology showing up in future updates for Logic Pro X and Garageband.

The Mac Observer Spin: Camel Audio's Alchemy was a popular package for audio designers, so seeing it shut down without any warning was a sad thing. Knowing that shutdown was from an Apple buyout, however, takes away some of the sting because it's a safe bet we'll see their products rolled into Apple's own apps.

Google announced on Monday that it has released YouTube Kids on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. The new app provides children and families with a kid-friendly portal to discover and explore videos about anything they can possibly imagine. The family-focused content is appropriate for children and broken down into four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore.

YouTube Kids allows children to discover new facts about dinosaurs from National Geographic Kids, learn about technology from Reading Rainbow, watch Thomas the Tank Engine leave the world of Sodor and more. Families and children can also watch video series on YouTube channels such as DreamWorks TV, Jim Henson TV, Mother Goose Club and Talking Tom and Friends.

The Apple Watch may be dominating the smartwatch market from the future, but Pebble Technology is aiming for a slightly different target audience with the new color-screen Pebble Time.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

As Tim Cook honors what would have been Steve Jobs’ 60th birthday, the Apple CEO has been spotted in Berlin, Germany. Specifically, Cook has made an appearance at the newsroom of BILD (Bild-Zeitung), the famous German newspaper, alongside the publication’s editors-in-chief Kai Diekmann and Julian Reichelt.

Notably, BILD the newspaper is a sister publication to Computer BILD the technology magazine which famously said it...

Best known for being a blockbuster success on Kickstarter, Pebble announced on Tuesday that it is returning to its roots, and will crowdfund its next-generation smartwatch with a color display and voice input, in a bid to take on the upcoming Apple Watch.

No matter which way you cut it, it remains remarkable that Samsung continues to serve as a key component supplier to Apple for the innards of the iPhone and iPad line while also being a major competitor in the mobile phone space. In fact, to this day, it is hard to argue that there is a bigger Apple component partner than Samsung.

Just as Samsung prepares to unveil its latest flagship Galaxy S6 next week, The Korea Times reports that Apple and Samsung have struck a deal for the latter company to supply the former with at least 50% of the mobile DRAM chips used it Apple’s followup to the iPhone 6 expected later this fall. But that’s the tip o’ the iceberg as they say…...

Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can.

Apple is planning some significant changes to how Genius Bar appointments are handled in its retail stores, according to a new report from 9to5Mac. Citing several inside sources, the report notes that the initiative, dubbed “The new Concierge,” is expected to launch in Apple’s U.S. retail stores starting in early March. Under the new system, customers walking into a store and looking for a Genius Bar appointment will be placed on…

Almost everything Apple has done since the unfortunate passing of Steve Jobs has been met with comments about what the company would or wouldn’t have done had Steve still been here – even though his marching orders for Tim Cook were to never ask what he would have done.

But things certainly would have been different. The flattened user-interface of iOS 7 versus the skeuomorphic approach of the Jobs era. Would have it have happened at all? Would he have stopped it going quite so far? Would Apple have gone in a different direction.

Update: Less than 30 minutes after launching its Kickstarter campaign, the Pebble Time is fully funded.

Pebble has this morning announced the next generation of its smartwatch, called Pebble Time. The device, as we reported last week, sports a color e-paper display, a thinner design, a microphone on board, and a completely revamped ‘timeline’ interface. Pebble Time is launching on Kickstarter with early bird pricing tiers at $159 and $179, but the device will retail for $199.

International payment network Visa on Tuesday announced that it would extend its network tokenization service -- one of the foundational technologies behind Apple Pay -- to Europe beginning in mid April, signaling that the first overseas launch of Apple's mobile payment solution may not be far away.

Apple has acquired music software developer Camel Audio, according to a new report from MacRumors. Citing information found on a corporate registry site, the report notes that the U.K.-based company’s address has been updated to match that of Apple’s London office, and the sole director of the company is listed as a member of Apple’s legal team. Camel Audio was best known for Alchemy, its modular music editing suite that incorporated…

VISA has announced that it will be introducing a new payment “tokenization” service in Europe designed to help facilitate mobile payment solutions. Intended to be available for European financial institutions to take advantage of as early as April, the new service will replace traditional plastic credit card numbers with unique one-time tokens that can be used to authorize payments without needing to expose account information. This form…

In today’s iLounge Deal you can get the BOLT Portable Battery & Wall Charger for only $44.99. This handy two-in-one device can replace your standard wall charger as well as providing you with 3,000 mAh of battery power while on the go. With a smooth rubber finish and AC outlet prongs that fold in to stay out of the way when not needed, BOLT provides a compact battery pack that’s smaller than most batteries of comparable size, while…

G-Technology has announced a new high-performance external G-RAID twin-drive storage system aimed at video professionals. Available in 8TB, 12TB and 16TB versions, the G-RAID with Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0 delivers transfer rates of up to 440MB/s, enough to handle multi-stream HD, 2K and compressed 4K video …

Both 7200rpm enterprise-class drives are removeable, and the built-in RAID controller offers a choice of RAID 0 for maximum speed or RAID 1 for the security of mirrored data.

As you’d expect from G-Technology, the enclosures are all-aluminum, and use quiet cooling fans.

Pricing is surprisingly reasonable for what you’re getting, starting at $800 for 8TB, through $1000 for 12TB to $1300 for 16TB. A slightly cheaper...

In a deal said to be worth billions of dollars, Samsung will allegedly provide at least half of the dynamic random access memory used in the processor for Apple's 2015 iPhone update, according to a new rumor.

Imagine if you could check one app to see all of your messages, emails, and social streams in one spot. Imagine if that app added a layer of privacy on top of every account, so you could send messages and search across every service without the app spying on your activity. That app is here—but it’ll cost you.

Ekko adds a layer of privacy and ease on top of the services you use daily.

Ekko is a premium umbrella service that unifies your most-used social networks and email programs in an easy-to-use interface. For your monthly subscription of $5 a month (or $50 per year), you also have access to security controls that can be applied to any message sent from any of your linked accounts. You can add password protection to your messages or set them to self-destruct after a certain amount of time or number of views. Recipients view your messages in a secure browsing session.

Pic It! (free) is a cute little quiz game that gives you something to do with the silly photos that are on your iPhone. I'm talking about the throw-away selfies and shots or your dog's wet nose that you used as the punchline to a tweet. With Pic It!, they're part of a quiz!

Game Play

Pic It! is a social quiz game that's easy to play. To start, select a photo that will suggest the answer to a riddle. In the example above, I used a photo of my daughter's pointe shoes and added the hint, "Keeping you on your". My opponent receives the image and hint, plus a pool of letters, some of which spell out the answer: "Toes".

Customization

You can decorate (or obfuscate, if you wish) your image to make things more entertaining or challenging for your opponent with image filters, color options and editing tools like blur, focus, crop and font. You get one of each to start, and additional...

This Concierge program, spearheaded by Retail Senior Vice President Angela Ahrendts, moves away from the classic appointment model. Instead, a customer describes the issue to an Apple Store employee, who inputs the issue into an updated iPad application. Using a special algorithm, the application provides the customer a wait time based on issue priorities.

A podcast is a terrible thing to waste—especially one that’s reached 444 episodes and counting. So I’m thrilled to announce that after a one-week hiatus following the departure of our friend Chris Breen, the Macworld Podcast will be back this week with a new cohost. Please welcome Glenn Fleishman to the podcast chair!

Glenn is no stranger to Macworld. His excellent column on privacy and security, Private I, has been coming to you every Wednesday since last October, and he’s been writing for the site for years on diverse topics like networking, backup, photo apps, cloud storage, and more.

Citizenfour, a film documenting interviews director Laura Poitras conducted with whistle-blower Edward Snowden, won the Oscar for best documentary Sunday. The talks took place as Snowden blew the lid off the United States National Security Agency's surveillance activities. The award highlights the divisions in the U.S. over Snowden's actions and the question of national security. "The disclosures that Edward Snowden reveals don't only expose a threat to our privacy but to our democracy itself," Poitras said in her acceptance speech.

U.S. students and teachers have been able to get free access to Microsoft Office 365 since 2013, and the company has now extended the deal to a range of other countries.

Millions of students around the world are eligible for free Office from their school and today we are announcing that we’ve made it easy for all eligible students globally to sign up themselves to get Office 365 and install free Office.

That includes the 5.5 million eligible students in Australia, the nearly 5 million eligible students in Germany, 7 million more in Brazil, 1.3 million at Anadolu University in Turkey, every student in Hong Kong and millions more.

Qualifying students and teachers can install the latest version of Office on up to five Macs, as well as a further five mobile devices. The deal is available if you study or teach...

Visa Europe has announced that its European contactless payment terminals will support the tokenization service used by Apple Pay by mid-April. This would allow Apple to introduce Apple Pay to Europe anytime from this point on.

Tokenisation technology will be at the heart of new mobile payment solutions and has been hailed as one of the best data protection and fraud prevention methods available. The new service will be available for financial institutions [in Europe] from mid-April 2015.

Although Europe has had contactless payment cards for several years, these currently transmit the actual card details to the terminal. Apple Pay, in contrast, transmits single-use codes which card companies can map back to the actual card, a functionality currently only available in the USA. As of mid-April, that functionality will be available in Europe too–at least for Visa...

One of the big themes in the history of gaming has been the pursuit of photorealism, and it’s only in the last few years that hardware has become powerful enough that we can produce titles that look more like movies than games traditionally could.

For sure, photorealism isn’t the only way to build a game—a photorealistic Peggle Blast would be a bit grim, and it’s hard to imagine a Jeff Minter game that wasn’t a crazed neon din—but it’s certainly true that some developers have been trying to make their first-person shooters, racers, and more look as completely believable as possible. In other words, a photo on the box could pretty much match up with what the game itself would look like once you slipped the disc into your console or your Mac.

Monday February 23

Apple on Tuesday was granted a patent for a method by which two or more mobile device users can share and interact with app data in real time, including the ability to see each other's screens during a FaceTime call.

Audio software developer Camel Audio announced in January that it would be shutting down for good and removing its software from sale, but no one knew quite why. However, it now appears that the company has been acquired by Apple.

Today Camel Audio updated some of its corporate information, including its address and directors, as listed on the UK government’s Companies House website. The new address is 100 New Bridge Street in London, which also happens to be the address of Apple’s UK offices.

As highlighted by MacRumors, Camel also updated its board of directors (seen in some of the filings below), removing all directors...

Apple has seemingly purchased UK-based digital audio effects maker Camel Audio, best known for the popular Alchemy synth plug-in, suggesting the firm's software may be included in a future version of Logic Pro X.

Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can.

Apps Now Free

Polygon [iPhone; Now free, down from $0.99] Play Polygon and train your visual perception when having fun with ad free App.

Robot Escape for iPad [iPad; Now free, down from $1.99] Robot Escape for iPad is a fun game to play with lots of friends!

BattleMage [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $1.99] Evil has begun to creep from the darkness, approaching the villages and threatening the kingdom.

Apple will soon make a significant change to retail store Genius Bar appointments to improve the customer experience, according to several sources briefed on the upcoming shift. During the week of March 9th, Apple’s United States stores will launch a new initiative called “Concierge” that replaces traditional walk-in Genius Bar appointments. Currently, a customer seeking Genius Bar assistance can walk into an Apple Retail Store, explain the issue to a check-in assistant, and get a specific time to return for an appointment…

This Concierge program, spearheaded by Retail Senior Vice President Angela Ahrendts, moves away from the classic appointment model. Instead, a customer describes the issue to an Apple Store employee, who...

It’s time to save some of your hard-earned money with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive deals for AWT readers, hardware discounts and our own handpicked iOS and OS X sales. All prices are USD and subject to change. Please check prices before you purchase as some deals may expire quickly.

AWT’s Daily Deals

Simon 4.0 [OS X; On sale for $49.00, down from $99.00] AppleWorld.Today is pleased to offer an exclusive deal on Simon 4.0 by Dejal Systems. Simon is a robust site monitoring tool for OS X that checks servers for changes or failures and notifies you when a change is detected. The app sends a notification via email, sound, speech, Twitter, or a variety of other means.

The native Mac utility can be used to monitor both your own website and servers as well as external sites. You can use it to track...

Apple stock hit a new high of $133 at the closing bell on Monday, rocketing up 2.7 percent on the day to grow its market capitalization to just under $775 billion, a number two times larger than second-largest publicly traded U.S. company Exxon Mobil.

Tweetbot for iPhone 3.5.2 has been released today to support the native videos introduced by Twitter recently. The update allows users to play back the clips recorded and shared natively in the official Twitter app. Today’s new build also adds improvements to how the app handle’s GIFs shared using the pic.twitter.com service and fixes a variety of bugs.

The developers have also promised “exciting updates” coming to the app soon. You can get Tweetbot for iPhone for $4.99...

Be on the lookout for diverse emoji characters in a future OS X and iOS update: Apple released a beta version of OS X 10.10.3 on Monday that shows a selection of new emoji. Most notably, each emoji representing a person (or various hand gestures) will come with an array of skin tones to choose from. These new racially diverse emoji are found in the latest iOS beta release as well, iOS 8.3 beta 2.

The default skin tone for these emoji is bright yellow (think The Simpsons), which we should assume is supposed to represent neutrality (and not jaundice). To change it, tap and hold the emoji icon to reveal the whole selection for that emoji. Each one has six different skin/hair color options to choose from.

In a change to its online storefront on Monday, Apple introduced a revised World Travel Adapter Kit with a total of seven AC plug types and a reduced price of $29, as the package no longer includes a USB power adapter or cable.

HughPickens.com writes AP reports that in an effort to undercut Apple's hit service Apple Pay, Google is teaming up with three wireless carriers by building its payment service into Android smartphones sold by AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA. Besides trying to make it more convenient to use Wallet, Google also is hoping to improve the nearly 4-year-old service. Toward that end, Google is buying some mobile payment technology and patents from Softcard, a 5-year-old venture owned by the wireless carriers. Financial terms weren't disclosed but Apple Pay's popularity probably helped forge the unlikely alliance between Google and the wireless carriers. Google traditionally has had a prickly relationship with the carriers, largely because it doesn't believe enough has been done to upgrade wireless networks and make them cheaper so more people can spend more time online. The biggest challenge however is one that both Apple and Google face: Only a small fraction of the 10...

HughPickens.com writes AP reports that in an effort to undercut Apple's hit service Apple Pay, Google is teaming up with three wireless carriers by building its payment service into Android smartphones sold by AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA. Besides trying to make it more convenient to use Wallet, Google also is hoping to improve the nearly 4-year-old service. Toward that end, Google is buying some mobile payment technology and patents from Softcard, a 5-year-old venture owned by the wireless carriers. Financial terms weren't disclosed but Apple Pay's popularity probably helped forge the unlikely alliance between Google and the wireless carriers. Google traditionally has had a prickly relationship with the carriers, largely because it doesn't believe enough has been done to upgrade wireless networks and make them cheaper so more people can spend more time online.

The biggest challenge however is one that both Apple and Google face: Only a small fraction of...

There are many iOS-connected security cameras on the market, but not a lot that will set off a loud siren when they detect loud noises or unexpected movement. The US$199 Piper HD security camera from iControl Networks brought this capability and a unique 180° view camera to the market a while back, and now the company is shipping the $269 Piper nv, an upgraded model with night vision and other improvements.

Design

The new Piper nv looks identical to the older model. It’s almost 6.5 inches (16.51 cm) tall, 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) wide and about 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) thick on its aluminum base. The Piper nv comes in black or white, with a gray speaker grill on top. That speaker can be used for two things — two-way communications with visitors (known or uninvited) at your home or business and for blasting out an almost excruciating 105 dB siren....

As this photo of the original Mophie Juice Pack and Tylt’s Energi for iPhone 6 shows, iPhone battery cases haven’t changed much over the years. They’ve existed for almost as long as iPhones, and remained ubiquitous due to Apple’s continued focus on thinness over longevity. That hasn’t been great for consumers: as 9to5’s Seth Weintraub put it, people are more impacted by their phones’ battery life than an extra 2mm of thinness.

It took until 2014 for Apple to offer one iPhone model — the iPhone 6 Plus — with all-day battery life, though you have to be willing to accept a much larger footprint to get that. By comparison, the smaller and reportedly more popular iPhone 6 improved only around 7% upon the iPhone 5s in run time, so the...

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

In this week’s collection of ExtraBITS, we learn that Apple is ending its support for AOL logins, the truth about AT&T’s “privacy fee,” and how Photoshop is trying to stay relevant after 25 years.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Q: Help! My new iPhone 6 is driving me nuts! I plug my iPhone in near my bed, and for some reason Siri keeps waking up randomly and asking me what I want. It only seems to do this when I’m in bed, which makes me think she’s deliberately trying to make me crazy. Sometimes she even wakes me up in the middle of the night. It’s really creepy. I’d take my iPhone to an Apple Store, but it’s like 20 miles to the nearest one…

Starting with the latest betas of iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3, new alternate skin color options are available when selecting emojis of people and faces. In addition, Siri has added a host of new languages on iPhone and iPad.

Samsung has acquired the battery pack business of leading automotive parts supplier Magna International. The move, according to a statement from the companies, will “enhance Samsung SDI’s capabilities in batteries for electric vehicles.”

While Samsung producing batteries and energy storage solutions for vehicles isn’t exactly new—it already supplies batteries for Tesla and others—there is an Apple Car connection in its latest acquisition…

If you remember hearing that Magna International name recently, it’s likely because Magna International was said to be one of the contract vehicle manufacturers...

"All around the world, our team at Apple is united in the belief that being different makes us better. We know that each generation has a responsibility to build upon the gains of the past, expanding the rights and freedoms we enjoy to the many who are still striving for justice."

People increasingly use emoji to convey information, humor and themselves. It's great to see options to let customers do...

djay Pro for Mac provides a complete toolkit for performing DJs. Its unique and modern interface is built around a sophisticated integration with iTunes and Spotify, giving you instant access to millions of tracks. Pristine sound quality and a powerful set of features including high-definition waveforms, four decks, audio effects, and hardware integration give you endless creative flexibility to take your sets to new heights. Special introductory pricing (40% off) for a limited time.

Jim’s Note: I had the opportunity to test djay Pro for Mac and loved it. I’m still using

deGeo is as easy as it gets when it comes to stripping geotags from photos. With just a few taps, the app allows you to view your photos, parse the geotag information and remove that private information before sharing your photos with family, friends and more.

deGeo launches to a camera roll view that shows thumbnails of all the available photos on your iPhone or iPad. You can select one image or multiple images to process with the geotag remover. When viewing an image, you can swipe right to view the geotag and EXIF information stored with the photo. The geotag information is presented as a location on a map, as an address and as GPS coordinates. You can share this geotag information or view it in a mapping program.

When you want to share your photo(s), you can tap the share button (or swipe downward) and then select the app to which you want to share. The app uses the...

The long-standing partnership that allowed AOL members to login to iTunes with their AOL credentials will come to an end at the end of next month, meaning those consumers still taking advantage of that ability will need to migrate to an Apple ID or lose access to iTunes, the App Store, and the iBookstore.

In addition to Wireless CarPlay, more diverse Emojis, and improved logging in for Google services, iOS 8.3 adds a major new feature: several new languages for Siri. Over three years following the initial Siri beta in 2011, iOS 8.3 adds support for the following languages in Siri: Russian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and English for India…

Starting March 31, 2015, AOL will no longer allow customers to use their AOL Username (also known as an AOL Screen Name) to sign in to the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBooks Store. You must convert your AOL Username to an Apple ID in order to maintain access to the stores and to content you purchased previously.

The United States' National Security Agency and British spy agency GCHQ have hacked into the internal computer network of Gemalto, the world's largest maker of SIM cards, and stolen the cards' encryption keys, according to information in files leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden. Gemalto makes about 2 billion SIM cards a year, and sells them to 450 major wireless network carriers worldwide, including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Gemalto said it was unaware of the hack and expressed concern.

Apple on Monday seeded developers with another beta version of its forthcoming OS X 10.10.3 update, asking testers to focus primarily on the new Photos app with additional attention paid to Wi-Fi captive network support and screen sharing.

Apple has released a second beta of iOS 8.3 to registered developers, continuing its parallel iOS 8.3 beta cycle which started earlier this month alongside the iOS 8.2 betas. This latest beta features a build number of 12F5037c and details few changes in the release notes from the prior beta. According to a report last week, Apple plans to begin releasing public betas with iOS 8.3 sometime in March; this second developer beta is likely the last for…

The build number in the latest release has raised to 14D87h from 14D72i in the initial release. OS X 10.10.3, which is expected to become available to all users later this spring, also includes changes to how and which special Emoji characters are presented....

We’re as focused on kids’ safety as you are, so we’ve built the YouTube Kids app to be a family-friendly place to explore.

When your child browses the app’s home screen, they’ll find a vast selection of kid-appropriate channels and playlists. When families search in the app, we use a mix of input from our users and automated analysts to categorize and screen out the videos that make parents nervous.

Car makers have put a lot of time and money into their own dashboard infotainment systems, so it’s not surprising that some are reticent to embrace Apple’s CarPlay, which puts iOS front and center in your car. Toyota is holding off on CarPlay support in favor of its own platform, according to a Monday New York Times report.

Several auto companies and aftermarket car stereo makers are on board with CarPlay, with plans to make the smart dashboard available in upcoming models. Some, like Ford, plan to support CarPlay, Android Auto, and their own platforms to ensure buyers aren’t turned off by a lack of choice. But Toyota is sticking to its own closed system, Entune.

Search giant Google is reportedly doubling down on its mobile payments strategy, agreeing on a new deal with major U.S. wireless providers to pre-install the Google Wallet app on Android handsets while acquiring the technology behind Softcard from those same carriers.

Privacy advocates have long tried to educate consumers on the perils of giving apps access to GPS data, but a group of Stanford researchers has developed a method to infer a device's location from a seemingly much more innocuous source -- battery charge information.

We were first introduced to Incipio's new offGRID iPhone 6 battery case family at CES, with the company's already-released offGRID Express earning a high rating. The upcoming offGRID Shine ($90) is very similar to offGRID Express — it has the same 3000 mAh battery and is roughly the same size — but a $10 price premium offers a different design. Unlike Express, Shine is a one-piece case, with a brushed shiny finish on the back. The power button here can be found on the lower back section of the case next to its battery meter lights, and the micro-USB charging port is located on the bottom of the case. Two pins also allow the iPhone to charge through the offGRID Dock ($40), which is sold separately. The offGRID Dock is pictured below, but was not factored into the review of the case itself.{/exp:char_limit}...

As the Apple Watch's release date looms, developers are discussing their plans for the device. Wearable.com asked several developers about their plans, and came away with some interesting glimpses of what's to come. There are 21 third-party Watch apps referenced in Wearable's article, including many screenshots.

Our take on the news

As reports like this come out, we get a sense of what apps will do and look like on the Watch. I was skeptical at first but I'm starting to see how the Watch's delivery of "glance" information will be hugely convenient. Things like baseball scores, a grocery list, subway info and so on will take a second or two to be known. That's going to be huge.

Several years late, Apple is finally dropping support for logging into the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore via an AOL username and password. Apple has emailed users with AOL accounts attached to iTunes to indicate that login support will end on March 31, 2015. Users have until then to convert their AOL login accounts to Apple IDs for iTunes services. Apple recently posted a support document with instructions on converting an AOL login to an Apple ID. Users simply need to login to iTunes with their AOL account and the conversion process will be offered. The conversion does not effect the main AOL account’s usage with AOL’s services. Apple...

Thefts of IOS devices are nothing new. The devices command a premium resale price and can be relatively easy to steal from unsuspecting commuters on public transit systems.

Indeed, it has become such a problem that Apple included "Activation Lock" starting in iOS 7, a feature that remotely disables iPhones so that they cannot be reactivated after they are reported stolen. This, together with "Find My iPhone" -- a web service that allows lost or stolen iOS devices to be tracked remotely -- forms the core of Apple's defence against would-be iPhone thieves.

Contactless credit and debit cards are only just starting to take off in the USA, but with Apple Pay driving merchants to introduce contactless payment terminals, you are increasingly likely to find that RFID symbol on your bank cards when you receive replacements.

We’ve had contactless cards in Europe for a few years now, and they’re even more convenient than Apple Pay for low-value transactions. For anything up to £30 ($46), you don’t need to verify the transaction in any way: just tap your card against the terminal. You can even do this without taking the card out of your wallet. (Bank guarantees protect you against fraudulent transactions.)

Convenient, that is, unless you have more than one contactless card in your wallet. This can either lead to the wrong card being debited or, more usually, cause the transaction to fail. Truffol has come up with an iPhone 6 wallet case specifically designed to solve this problem...

Apple's mapping efforts appear to be growing, as AppleInsider readers continue to spot mysterious sensor-laden vans, just like the ones previously confirmed to be registered to Apple, roaming around the United States.

Strong passwords are key to maintaining the security of your Mac, and in this chapter, Joe Kissell explains why, looks at what’s involved with a strong password, suggests several password managers, and encourages you to up the security of a few key passwords right away.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

In this week’s chapter of the streamed “Take Control of Security for Mac Users,” Joe Kissell explains why it’s important to have multiple strong passwords and how to create and manage them.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

While Apple has notably been engaged in a back-and-forth poaching war with electric vehicle maker Tesla in recent months, a new report from The Korea Times claims that Apple has also been targeting “experts in next-generation technology” from Samsung Electronics. Citing an anonymous official from Samsung, the report highlights that the iPhone maker has a history of picking off chip experts from the Korean company using competitive compensation and “greater independence” as engineers.

Apple hasn’t stopped at just recruiting chip makers from Samsung, though, as its ambitions recently expanded to include the possibility of an electric vehicle down the road. According to...

PCalc is a full-featured, scriptable scientific calculator with support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations, as well as an RPN mode, programmable functions, and an extensive set of unit... Read more

FileZilla 3.10.2 - Fast and reliable FTP...

FileZilla (ported from Windows) is a fast and reliable FTP client and server with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
Version 3.10.2:
Note: Now requires a 64-bit Intel processor.... Read more

The Hit List 1.1.11 - Advanced reminder...

The Hit List manages the daily chaos of your modern life. It's easy to learn - it's as easy as making lists. And it's powerful enough to let you plan, then forget, then act when the time is right.... Read more

Bartender 1.2.32 - Organize your menu ba...

Bartender lets you organize your menu bar apps.
Features:
Lets you tidy your menu bar apps how you want.
See your menu bar apps when you want.
Hide the apps you need to run, but do not need to... Read more

ClamXav 2.7.5 - Free virus checker, base...

ClamXav is a free virus checker for OS X. It uses the tried, tested, and very popular ClamAV open source antivirus engine as a back end.
I hope you like and use ClamXav a lot and that it helps keep... Read more

xScope 4.1.2 - Onscreen graphic measurem...

xScope is powerful set of tools that are ideal for measuring, inspecting, and testing on-screen graphics and layouts. Its tools float above your desktop windows and can be accessed via a toolbar,... Read more

MacFamilyTree 7.3.3 - Create and explore...

MacFamilyTree gives genealogy a facelift: it's modern, interactive, incredibly fast, and easy to use. We're convinced that generations of chroniclers would have loved to trade in their genealogy... Read more

Skype 7.5.0.738 - Voice-over-internet ph...

Skype allows you to talk to friends, family and co-workers across the Internet without the inconvenience of long distance telephone charges. Using peer-to-peer data transmission technology, Skype... Read more

PushPal 3.0 - Mirror Android notificatio...

PushPal is a client for Pushbullet, which automatically shows you all of your phone's notifications right on your computer. This means you can see who's calling or read text messages even if your... Read more

Gameloft has excitedly announced that Dungeon Hunter 5 is on its way! Once again, you will adventure across the land of Valenthia exploring dungeons and fighting monsters. The game will have a new asynchronous multiplayer mode called Strongholds... | Read more »

It Came From Canada: Jurojin: Immortal N...

At this point it’s pretty safe to say that no MOBA is going to dethrone Dota 2 and League of Legends anytime soon. After all, if Batman can’t do it, nobody can. However, with a genre as popular and profitable as this one, there’s still room for... | Read more »

Final February Fun at 148Apps
How do you know what apps are worth your time and money? Just look to the review team at 148Apps. We sort through the chaos and find the apps you’re looking for. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out... | Read more »

GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitel...

GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitely a Game You Should Keep an Eye on
Posted by Rob Rich on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
We were teased about Mediocre Games’ (Smash Hit,
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F84 Games & POW! Announce Stan Lee V...

F84 Games has announced that it is working with legendary comic creator Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment to produce Stan Lee’s Hero Command. The game will be a action adventure of heroic proportions.
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Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You C...

Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You Can Focus On Rocking Out.
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
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Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vas...

Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vast New Update!
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
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Size DOES Matter Review

Size DOES Matter Review
By Campbell Bird on March 2nd, 2015
Our Rating: :: HARD TO BEATUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
This rhythm game has a unique control scheme and performance system that make it feel like a true... | Read more »

The first ever action 3D card battler Al...

On the other hand, you probably haven’t played an action 3D card battler – until now. Step forward, All Star Legion.
All Star Legion is a 3D QTE-based action RPG card battler, but fear not – the game itself isn’t as convoluted as its description.... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Another Tranche Of IBM MobileFirst For iOS Ap...

IBM has announced the next expansion phase for its IBM MobileFirst for iOS portfolio, with a troika of new apps to address key priorities for the Banking and Financial Services, Airline and Retail... Read more

Sale! 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros for up to $...

B&H Photo has the new 2014 15″ Retina MacBook Pros on sale for up to $250 off MSRP for a limited time. Shipping is free, and B&H charges NY sales tax only:
- 15″ 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro: $... Read more

WaterField Designs Introduces the Minimalist...

With Apple Pay gaining popularity, Android Pay coming in May 2015, and loyalty cards and receipts that can be accessed from smartphones, San Francisco’s WaterField Designs observes that it may be... Read more

Sale! 15-inch 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro for $...

Best Buy has the 15″ 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro on sale for $1774.99 $1799.99, or $225 off MSRP. Choose free home shipping or free local store pickup (if available). Price valid for online orders... Read more

13-inch 2.5GHz MacBook Pro (refurbished) avai...

The Apple Store has Apple Certified Refurbished 13″ 2.5GHz MacBook Pros available for $170 off the cost of new models. Apple’s one-year warranty is standard, and shipping is free:
- 13″ 2.5GHz... Read more

13-inch 2.5GHz MacBook Pro on sale for $100 o...

B&H Photo has the 13″ 2.5GHz MacBook Pro on sale for $999.99 including free shipping plus NY sales tax only. Their price is $100 off MSRP.
Read more

27-inch 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on...

B&H Photo has the 27″ 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on sale for $2299 including free shipping plus NY sales tax only. Their price is $200 off MSRP, and it’s the lowest price available for... Read more

Apple Launches Free Web-Based Pages and Other...

Apple’s new Web-only access to iWork productivity apps is a free level of iCloud service available to anyone, including people who don’t own or use Apple devices. The service includes access to Apple... Read more

Survey Reveals Solid State Disk (SSD) Technol...

In a recent SSD technology use survey, Kroll Ontrack, a firm specializing in data recovery, found that while nearly 90 percent of respondents leverage the performance and reliability benefits of SSD... Read more

Save up to $600 with Apple refurbished Mac Pr...

The Apple Store is offering Apple Certified Refurbished Mac Pros for up to $600 off the cost of new models. An Apple one-year warranty is included with each Mac Pro, and shipping is free. The... Read more

Jobs Board

*Apple* Solutions Consultant - Retail Sales...

**Job Summary** As an Apple Solutions Consultant (ASC) you are the link between our customers and our products. Your role is to drive the Apple business in a retail
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*Apple* Pay Automation Engineer - iOS System...

**Job Summary** At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job
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Sr. Technical Services Consultant, *Apple*...

**Job Summary** Apple Professional Services (APS) has an opening for a senior technical position that contributes to Apple 's efforts for strategic and transactional
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Event Director, *Apple* Retail Marketing -...

…This senior level position is responsible for leading and imagining the Apple Retail Team's global engagement strategy and team. Delivering an overarching brand
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*Apple* Pay - Site Reliability Engineer - Ap...

**Job Summary** Imagine what you could do here. At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring
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